Improvement in automatic safety-gates for railroads



W. C. GQROUS'E. Automatic Safety- Gate for Railroads.

No. 215,681. Patented May 20,1879.

@kkmvi N. PETERS. PHQTO- n w 0 UNITED STATTESPATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. 0. HOUSE, OF FLORENCE, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN AUTOMATIC SAFETY-GATES FOR RAILROADS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 215,681, dated May 20, 1879; application filed March 21, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. O. RoUsE, of Florence, in the county of Boone and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Safety-Gates for Railroad s, which improvementis fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is an elevation, showing the end view of the gate; Fig. 2, an elevation, showin gthe gates closed over the track; and Fig. 3, a cross-section of the gate through the line 2 of Fig. 2.

The object of my invention is to provide an automatic safety-gate for railroads, by the use of which cattle-guards can be dispensed with and it consists in an arrangement of two gates suitably placed on wheels between guides, and opened or closed by the action of the cars passing over the track and depressing the same, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the drawings, A represents the rails. The rails, for a suitable distance on each side of the gate, are preferably madein two parts, each part being a vertical half of the rail, as shown, the part A being fastened to the ties,

' as usual, and the part A, pivoted at its farnected by a knuckle, h.

provided with .wheels D, which run in the groove (1 in the sill B. It is also provided with a tongue, a, on its upper edge, which works in a suitable groove, 1), in the top rail, 0.

The back end of the gate D is joined to the extreme outer end of sill B by means of two parts, H and I, hinged at i and B, and con- At or near the middle part of the outer arm, H, a rod, G, is pivoted, as shown at H, which rod connects with the outer end of the lever F. A weight, J, suitably attached to arm I by means of a rope, J, will automatically returnv the gate when pressure on the rail A is removed.

The operation is very simple and readily understood. The portion A of the rail is on an incline, having its highest point nearest the gate. As the cars approach the gate the rails are depressed, raising the outer end of lever F, and correspondingly raising arm. H, and this, acting upon the arm I, draws back the gate and retains it until pressure on the rail A is removed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of gate D, having Wheels D and tongue a, with arms H I, rod G, lever F, and weight J, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. The combination, with a railway-track having a raised or elevated rai l,'A, of an arm, E, lever F, rod G, arms H I, and gate D, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

WILLIAM (J. 0. HOUSE.

Witnesses:

J. S. ZERBE, SAML. O. CHRISTIAN. 

